Qatar Open: Rafael Nadal survives scare in Doha

Doha: Former World No 1 Rafael Nadal survived a first-round scare in the Qatar Open on Tuesday, winning in three sets against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

Rafael Nadal

Nadal lost the first set in a tie-break and looked set to follow defending champion David Ferrer out of the tournament, who lost earlier in the day to Ukraine's Ilya Marchenko, ranked No 94 in the world. But the 14-times Grand Slam winner rallied after a difficult start to take the match 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.

"In the second and third sets, I played well, little mistakes and I was very positive," said Nadal. He added: "I think I changed a little bit at the beginning of the second (set). I played with a little bit higher intensity and being a little bit more aggressive, going a little bit more for the shots."